With San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo virtually guaranteed to win another four-year term this June, any shift in the balance of power will hinge on the five other City Council races. But it’s too soon to tell whether the labor unions or the Chamber of Commerce — the two traditional strongholds of influence in the city — will emerge victorious.

It’s the “odd” districts that are up this election cycle and where the real action could happen in terms of a possible power shift. Right now, the Council is generally pretty evenly divided between union- and Chamber-favored members.

But with labor-friendly Councilman Don Rocha terming out of the only open seat in District 9, a business-friendly contender has a real shot at winning. That could be a real boon for Liccardo as he tries to raise San Jose’s profile as a destination for businesses.

The incumbent in District 7, Tam Nguyen, is particularly vulnerable this year and if the somewhat-independent-minded Nguyen loses, that seat could go either way, with the unions and business organizations each campaigning hard for their respective choices.

“Victories for both the sort of Chamber-type candidates in [Districts] 7 and 9 would really weaken labor interests,” said Garrick Percival, a San Jose State University politics professor who has followed the races closely.

Overall, there are 18 people vying for the five San Jose City Council seats up for a vote this election year and four contenders for the mayor’s spot.

Four of the council races feature incumbents. Despite some allegations of campaign sign stealing and tense exchanges among some candidates, nothing egregious has come to light so far.

Six people have stepped forward to try to claim Rocha’s District 9 spot to represent the area southwest of downtown. Pam Foley, who runs a real estate mortgage business and sits on the board of the San Jose Unified School District, and Shay Franco-Clausen, director of development at the nonprofit Silicon Valley FACES and a former Ash Kalra staffer, have garnered the most big-name support. Foley has the backing of the business-friendly Silicon Valley Organization while Franco-Clausen has the endorsement of the South Bay Labor Council and other unions.

“I think those are definitely the two favored candidates,” Percival said.

Also vying for the seat are Kalen Gallagher, a member of the Campbell Union High School District board who helped launch the education technology company ClassDojo, Sabuhi Siddique, the chair of the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission, Rosie Zepeda, head of a communication consulting firm, and substitute teacher Scott Nelson.

Current Councilman and former lawyer Tam Nguyen — who was disbarred last year after failing to pay his clients a settlement — faces a tough fight to continue to represent District 7 southeast of downtown. A total of seven candidates make the District 7 contest the busiest race.

Maya Esparza, who lost to Nguyen in a runoff in 2014 by around 200 votes, is back as one of six contenders trying to unseat the sitting councilman. Esparza, a former Zoe Lofgren staffer and Franklin-McKinley school board member, is endorsed by the South Bay Labor Council and has garnered significant support from the Latino community in the area.

“Racial and ethnic coalitions play a big part in D7,” Percival said, noting that an Esparza victory would strengthen labor’s hold on the council.

But Esparza’s also battling newcomer Omar Vasquez, a shuttle bus driver who co-founded the immigrant advocacy group Latinos United for a New America. Vasquez isn’t likely to win, but he could siphon off important votes and make room for a business-minded candidate to succeed.

Also in the race in the Vietnamese-heavy district is Thomas Duong, a mortgage lending manager who served in the military and has the backing of the powerful Silicon Valley Organization, San Jose’s Chamber of Commerce.

Rounding out the six are businesswoman and East Side Union High School District board member Van Le, who also ran in 2014, Oakland tax auditor Chris Le and engineer Jonathan Fleming.

The races in the other districts have been quieter.

In District 5 in east San Jose, current Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco, who worked with the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children’s Services and pushed the city to open an Office of Immigrant Affairs, faces two challengers. Her opponents are retired ironworker Danny Garza, the son of former Councilman Al Garza and a longtime vocal critic of Carrasco, and Jennifer Imhoff, a communication director for the Libertarian Party.

Garza has significant name recognition in the community, particularly among the labor unions. But despite sometimes aligning with business-friendly Liccardo as vice mayor, Carrasco is endorsed by the South Bay Labor Council, the region’s key labor group. She also has the most money in the bank. At the end of April, she had more than $50,000, while Garza and Imhoff each had less than $3,000.

In District 1 on the far western edge of the city, bordering Cupertino and Saratoga, Campbell and Santa Clara, incumbent Chappie Jones — who left a sales management job at Apple to run back in 2014 — is unopposed. In downtown District 3, former San Jose Police Officer Raul Peralez is also unopposed in seeking another term.

Perhaps the least interesting race in which there are at least two people running is the mayor’s seat. Liccardo is likely to win, barring some unforeseen disaster. His challengers — Steve Brown, Quangminh Pham and Tyrone Wade — have far less name recognition and significantly lighter war chests.

As mayor, Liccardo has pushed to draw big-name companies like Google downtown, garnering both support and some pushback from residents concerned the changes will price low-income people out of the area. He launched Climate Smart San Jose, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, and has repeatedly sparred with the Trump administration over issues like immigration. Expect all that to continue.

With no solid polling on the races, it’s too early to predict winners. San Jose could see a shift toward business, a swing toward labor, or the status quo.

The primary election is June 5. Some of the races could go to runoffs, which would take place November 6.

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